Steamboat Springs  The early returns are good for the Steamboat Springs High School wrestling team. The Sailors opened their season Tuesday night with a dual against Summit, and on the strength of a trio of the team’s seniors, picked up the win.

A year after losing a tiebreaker against the same team, Steamboat won, 48-36.

“And,” coach Shane Yeager was quick to add, “we had to leave several kids home because of scheduling conflicts or disciplinary reasons. It could have been more than that.”

Steamboat won four matches outright and picked up three forfeits. Summit had two wins and took four weight classes by forfeit.

All of the Sailor wins came via pins, and three came from the team’s seniors. Connor O’Brien pinned Esteban Nogueda 1 minute into the first round at 182 pounds. Brandon Yeager pinned Tyler Blackford at the 4:53 mark, midway through the third period. Finally, Cole Sittig pinned Will Flannagan quickly in the first period, just 52 seconds into the match.

“We came up with some big wins and had some good wrestling,” Yeager said. “Brandon had a big win. He smoked that kid.

“All of the seniors went out and dominated in their matches.”

Steamboat also got a pin from freshman Mathew Hansen at 138 pounds. He beat Alex Veleta in the second period.

The Sailors go back to the mats today for a 5 p.m. triangular at Glenwood Springs and also against Eagle Valley. A year ago, Steamboat lost both matchups, but Yeager was eager to see how his team fares on this go-around.

“Eagle Valley completely embarrassed us, and we didn’t do well against Glenwood,” he said. “I’m excited to see what we have this year. We will see where we stand.”